Timer



Oct. 9 1923. 1,470,230 7 e. WILLIAMS TIMER Filed Jan. 21. 1920 ZSheecs-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. 'BY T ATTOR EY G. WILLIAMS TIMER Filed Janr 21,- 1920 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTQR. BY x 2 T ATTORNEY mil view the parts within.

Patented Oct. 9, 1923.

UNITED. STATES GEORGE WILLIAMS, OF SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA.

TIMER. v

Application filed January 21, 1920. Serial No. 353,062.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Gnonon lVniLIAMs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Santa Ana, in the county of Orange, and State of California, have invented. a new and useful Timer, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for governing the time of occurrence of the spark at the spark plugs of internal combustion engine and also embodies means for intensitying the current passing through the device. p v

An object of the invention is to provide a timerol this type which does not depend.

upon a wiping contact.

Another object is to eiTect comparatively long engagement of the contacts and relatively quick breaks therebetwt-sen to produce the sparks, so that the sparks will be as large or hot as possible to produce with the given current.

Another object is to avoid the production of a spark and injury to the timer whentho engine back-tires.

Another object is to incorporate in the timer as a feature thereof distributing teriniuals spaced slightly from a rotaryconductor, during operation of the timer, so'as to produce air gaps across which the high tension current jumps with an intensifying efl'ect on the current.

Another object is to provide a make and break contactoperated by a rotary cam or ratchet.

Another object is to provide for non-rot. tion of the cam on reverse rotation ofthe timer shaft, caused by back-firing of the engine. j

4 Other objects, and advantages will appear in the subjoined detailed description.

The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention. I f

Figurel is a side elevation .of a timer built in accordance with the provisions of this invention, the timer shaft being partly broken away.

F g. 2 is a slde elevation wlth the housing shown in vertical midsection to expose Fig. 3 is a front ele with the front housin'g section omitted.

'Fig. 4 is an elevation, partly in section, from line indicated by m*-m" Fig.2. the front section of the housing being omitted.

Fig. 5 is a sectionalelevation on line indi- 'ation of the tii'nerv cated by m Fig. 2, the front section of the housing being on'iitted.

Fig. 7 is an elevation, partly in section,

from line indicated by Q3 l Fig. 2.

Fig.8 is an enlarged fragmental elevation of the timer, mainly in vertical midsection on line indicated by az az Fig. 6.

Fig. 9 is a diagram of electrical connections.

The tin'ier shaft is indicated at 1 and the shaft may be operated from the engine in any well known or preferred manner, for example said shaft may be an extension. of the cum shaft of the engine. The shaft 1 is jonraaled in a bearing 2 of a housing comp ising front and rear sections 3, 1 respectively. The housing sections may be conreeted together by screws The inner end of the shaft 1 is provided with a toothed clutch member 6 which is keyed at T, or otherwise fastened, to the shaft 1 so as to be driven by said shaft. The teeth of the clutch member 6 are indicated at 8 and said teeth engage the teeth 9 of a second clutch men'iber 10' which is loose on the shaft 1. The clutch member 10 is yieldingly held toward the clutch member 6 by a coil spring 11 interposed between the front face of the clutch member 10 and rear face of a disk 12 which is keyed at 13, or otherwise secured, to the shaft 1 so as to retate with said shaft.

Themember 10 not only forms a clutch member but also constitutes a cam or series of cam faces in the form of ratchet teeth '14 arranged at the periphery of the member 10. The ratchet teeth 14 are adapted, when thei'shaft is turned, to engage one at a time a'detent 1.5 projecting from a resilient contact member or vibrator 16, said vibrator being provided with an electric. contact 17. The-vibrator lGmay itself be formed of suitable spring matcriahas in the drawings, or maybe engaged by a spring so asto tendjto hold thefvibrator'16 out of engagementwith a contact 18 which may be in the form of an adjustable screw, or binding post mounted on an insulated arm a supiioi i'ed by a bracket 19. The outer-end of the screw 18 is provided with a nut for fastening a wire to the post. The contact member 16 is fastened by a screw 21, or its equivalent, to the bracket 19. The spring contact member 16 constantly holds the detcnt in engagement with the member 10. The screw 18 is adjusted so that when the detent engages the member 10 at the lower portion of any one 01 the teeth ll the contact 17 will be slightly spaced from the screw 18; and so that when the shaft 1 is turned, causing the higher portion of th appropriate tooth it to engage the detent 15, the contact 17 will be forced into engagement with the screw 18 to close an electric circuit in which the screw and contact member 16 are included. The teeth let are constructed that, in this instance, counterclock ice rotation of the shaft, as indicated by the arrow 7) in Fig. 6, will cause the cont ct member 16 to make and break the circuit: and the clutch teeth 8, 9 are construct-- ed so that the member (3 will grip the memhcr 10 when the shaft is rotated counterclockwise and so that. the teeth 8 will ride oreithe teeth 9 when the shaft is turned clockwise. Thus it is clear that the teeth 9 and increase in height in counter-clockwise direction looking at the front end of th shaft in the several views. hen the shalt 1 is turned clockwise, by back-firing of the engine, the detont 1') holds the member ll agaiz clockwise rotation. The height o the tee h 11 is such as to cause the contact '1? to (11f we the contact 18 shortly after the lower portions of the teeth are turned away 'i'rozn the detent, and when the crown or higher portions oi each tooth passes the detcnt 17 said detent snaps from the crown of the tooth to the lower portion of the next succeeding tooth thus allowing the contact member 16 to quickly break the circuit at the contacts 17, 18.

The bracket 19 is connected or formed integral with a support 22 having a sleeve 23 jonrnalei'l on the shaft 1. This support 22 may he turned relative to the shaft 1 by an operating arm 24: fastened to said support. The arm 21 connected to an operating mem er that may extend within the reach (it the operator so as to permit him to adrance and retard the spark. as will be made or li-ercina'l'ler. l astened to the support are studs provided with reduced portions 2? which project through a ring 38 that surround the disk I). The ring 38 is ma oi electrical insulating material proyh .d, with binding posts 39 having thereon nuts-ti The inner ends of the binding posts -51? are counter-sunk slightly in the ring 38 so that when the disk 12 rotates the binding po" will not contact with an electrical conduct r ll which is inserted in the periplr, cry oi the disk 12.

Connected with the conductor 11. or tn-med integral therewith as in the drawings. a distributing ring 42 which is inserted in the trout face of the disk 12 so that the outer taco of the ring 42 will be substant-ially flush with the front face of the disk 12. \Vhen the disk 12 rotates, the distributing ring 42 is spaced slightly at some portion thereof from the inner end of a binding post 43 which projects through a section -14: of the ring 38. It is readily understood that the ring 38 may be lormed of one piece of insulation, it desired, though in the drawings the ring is shown as being formed of two sections. The inner end of the post 43 is counter-sunk in the ring section it. The studs 26 extend through both sections of the ring 38 and said ring is securely held on the posts by nuts to on the trout ends of the posts 26. The binding post 13 is provided with nuts to for the purpose of connecting a wire to said )ost. One of the studs 26 projects reaiwvardly of the support 22 to form a binding post 60 which is pro vided with nuts 61.

Fig. 9 of the (.lrawings illustrates one way in which the electrical connections may be made and such connections are as follows: Assuming that the timer is to control the ignition of four cylinders of an engine the leads from the spark plugs, not shown, will be connected respectively to the binding posts 39. The binding post 18 will be connected by a wire 47 to one (11d of the primary coil -18 of the spark coil indicated in general by the character 49. The other end of theprimary coil will be connected by a wire 50 to a switch 51 which in turn is connected by a wire to a. battery 53 grounded as indicated at 5t. The high tension or secondary coil of the spark coil ll) is indicated at and has one end grounded as indicated at 56. The other end of the coil 55 is connected by a wire 57 to the binding post 43. To the binding post 60 is connected a wire 58 which is grounded as in dicated at 59. V

In practice the invention operates as follows: Assuming that the binding posts 39 are connected with the spark plugs. not shown, of the engine as above described. and assuming that the shaft- 1 is being operated by the engine at the proper rate of speed for electrifying the spark plugs at the predetermined intervals required by the engine for operation thereof. rotation of the shaft 1 causes the circuit, in which the primary coil is included. to be broken and again completed. in this instance. four times to each revolution of the shaft, since there are four ratchet. teeth 14;.

The intermittentlow'vollage current thus supplied to the primary coil induces a high tension current: in the secondary coil in a manner well understood in the art pertaining to sparkcoils. and this high tension current is broken at the proper intervals and in correct sequence for the various cylinders to the engine by reason of the intermittent make and break of the contacts 17 1b. The

high tension current jumps the air gap between the binding posts 39 and the conductor 41, these air gaps having the effect of producing sparks of larger size at the spark plugs than if the air gaps were absent.

To change the relation between the binding posts 39 and the conductor 41 for the purpose of advancing or retarding the spark, as is desirable in the ignition circuits of variable speed internal combustion engines, the operator will manipulate the op erating member 25 so as to cause rotation of the ring 38 and the distributing posts 39 around the axis of the disk 12 and its conductor 41.

From the foregoing it should be clear to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains that I have provided a make and break construction which is not depend ent upon the more or less unsatisfactory Wipe contact present in the commonly employed type of timer; that the make and break contacts are rotatively mounted as well as the distributing terminals so that the spark can be advanced and retarded; that, if the engine should kick back it cannot injure the timer because of the provision of the clutch between the timer shaft and ratchet device operating the vibrator; that intensification of the spark is provided for in the timer; and that the timer will operate satisfactorily, even. though the engaging surfaces of the moving parts become more or less worn.

The invention is not limited in its broader phases to the exact details of construction shown in the drawings and described above,

but the invention also includes such changes and modifications as ma be made by anyone skilled in the art vto WhlCh the invention relates, such changes and modifications lying within the spirit and scope of the appended claims I claim:

1. In a timer, the combination of a rotatably mounted shaft, a support rotatably mounted on the. shaft, means to rotate the support, a disk fixed to the shaft, an electric contact mounted on the support between the support and the disk, means operatable by rotation of the shaft to make and break an electric circuit through the contact, a dis tributing ring mounted in one end face of the disk, a conductor extending longitudinally in the peripheral face of the disk and connected with the distributing ring, studs projecting from the support, an insulation ring mounted on the studs and surrounding the disk, a binding post projecting through the end of the insulation ring adjacent the distributing ring, and binding posts projecting through the peripheral portion of the in sulation ring.

2. In a timer, the combination of a rotatably mounted shaft, a support rotatably mounted on the shaft, means to rotate the support, a toothed clutch member loose on the shaft, a second toothed clutch member fixed to the shaft and adapted to drive the first clutch member when the shaft is turned in one direction and to be inoperative to drive the first clutch member when the shaft is turned in the opposite direction, ratchet teeth on the periphery of the first clutch member, a contact member secured to the support and having an electric contact and .a detent on the contact member engageable by the ratchet teeth to prevent rotation of the first cluch member when the shaft is turned in the second named direction.

Signed at Los Angeles, California this 14th day of January 1920.

GEORGE WILLIAMS. Witnesses:

GEORGE H. Hrnns, L. BELLE WEAVER. 

